16. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS.
cont'd.
5. Urban and Rural Services. Political issuss must have their part in deciding the particular status of the Urban Authority in Hong Kong but, in considering this problem, the peculiar liability of the Colony to the importation of disease, together with the special conditions favouring its spread in urban areas, as well as International Health obligations, must be kept in mind. Public Health control in its wider aspects must remain essentially with the appropriate Government officers.
The housing problem has been briefly described. Already Victoria is overcrowded and there is an urgent need for expansion. The future policy of housing development in the Colony has to be decided. A Committee considered this question in 1938 but found it impossible to arrive at any firm conclusions except "that a permanent Towri Planning and Housing Committee be formed to advise Govern- ment on town planning and housing matters."; this was its main recommendation. It has not been any easier now to reach any firm conclusions but it is suggested for con-* sideration that the main expansion of housing for those working on the Island might be concentrated there, and that it might be possible to make more sites available on the Island by the removal of buildings strictly not essential there. It is also suggested that more use be made of admirable sites available for building in Kowloon and the New Territories. It is pointed out, however, that development of these territories must necessarily depend on security of tenure through extension of the leasehold, which has now only some fifty years to run.
Fouses in Victoria have suffered very much through the war and it will take many months before they can all be examined and reconditioned. The need for skilled supervisory staff is emphasized.
The question of the removal of slum property has to be faced and the only practical way to do this is for Covernment to make available fresh sites, erect suitable accommodation on these sites, and pull down the slums. The area thus cleared might in some cases be preserved as an open space.
Under normal conditions water supplies are generally adequate and safe but there are at present mechanical difficulties associated with the war and temporary rationing may be necessary on the Island, about one-third of whose supply is pumped from the mainland. It will be necessary to increase the pro- vision of safe water supplies to rural areas on the mainland.
The permanent aim in regard to nightsoil disposal
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